Born in 1949 and raised in Yorkshire, England, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser Fred Frith has been active across a broad spectrum of music-making since the late 1960s, starting with the iconic rock collective Henry Cow. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Frith is internationally renowned as electric guitarist and improviser, songwriter, and composer for film, dance and theater. Through bands like Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Crew, the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, and Cosa Brava, Frith has managed to keep one foot in the rock world while continuing to branch out into almost every area of contemporary musical endeavor.

His compositions have been performed by groups ranging from Arditti Quartet and the Ensemble Modern to the Baroque ensembles Concerto Köln and Galax Quartet, from the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra to ROVA and Arte Sax Quartets, from rock bands Hieronymus Firebrain and Ground Zero to the Glasgow Improvisers’ Orchestra. Film music credits include Thomas Riedelsheimer's acclaimed documentary Rivers and Tides, The Tango Lesson and Yes by Sally Potter, Peter Mettler’s Gods, Gambling and LSD, and Jennifer Baichwal's Act of God. His vast catalogue of recordings is available on Tzadik, Winter and Winter, ReR, and his own label Fred Records, among many others.

Fred has performed or recorded with a who’s who of modern music including Lotte Anker, Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, Gavin Bryars, Sylvie Courvoisier, Alvin Curran, Brian Eno, Evelyn Glennie, Carla Kihlstedt, Katia Labeque, Bill Laswell, Ikue Mori, Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, Bob Ostertag, Zeena Parkins, The Residents, Christian Wolff, Robert Wyatt, Otomo Yoshihide, and John Zorn among many others. Current projects include the improvising trio Maybe Monday, his band Cosa Brava, and Eye to Ear, an ensemble dedicated to the performance of his film music. Fred is the subject of Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzels’ award-winning documentary film Step Across the Border.

Subject of Le Voyage Immobile (1999) a documentary film about Frith’s trio with Louis Sclavis and Jean-Pierre Drouet, for France 3 (National TV)

Subject of Traffic in Trouble (1997) radio documentary for WDR, Germany

Subject of Streetwise (1991), a documentary film by Charles Castella about Frith’s work in Marseille with ‘unemployed rock musicians.’

Subject of Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel’s 90 minute documentary film Step Across the Border (1990, winner of the German Camera Prize, 1991). Shown in cinemas in USA, Canada, Europe, Japan and South America and on television in USA (Public TV), Germany (WDR, NDR, SWR), Switzerland (SR3), Austria (ORF) and France (Arte). One of Cahiers du Cinéma’s “100 most important films of the 20th century.”